Star Wars Chess

Star Wars Chess, released in 1993, is a chess video game developed by The Software Toolworks and published by Mindscape. It was made available for MS-DOS, Sega CD, and Windows 3.x, with a planned 3DO version that never materialized. The game replaces standard chess pieces with characters from the Star Wars films. When a piece captures another, a short animated battle plays out, similar to the approach used in Battle Chess (which itself drew inspiration from the holographic chess seen in the Star Wars movies). All 72 of these capture animations were produced and directed by Kevin Coffey, who worked with a team of animators. Coffey later noted on his personal website that, like in real life, sometimes the good guys won and sometimes they lost, but it was all in good fun.

Critical reception was mixed. Computer Gaming World remarked that Star Wars Chess and T2 Chess Wars represented marketing at its best—or worst, depending on one's perspective. Mega Magazine gave the game a 60 percent rating, suggesting that serious chess players would not likely enjoy it. In 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked it the 49th-worst computer game ever released, quipping that it proved there was no intelligent life—or AI—even in a galaxy far, far away. Conversely, GamePro praised the action scenes, sound, and detailed animation, stating that both chess purists and Star Wars purists would enjoy it, calling it "most impressive."